Bathurst councilor John Fry has welcomed the opening of a new permanent Tesla Supercharger in the CBD as a fantastic opportunity for the community to become a regional centre for electric vehicles.
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Mr Fry said the push towards electric vehicles could help lower greenhouse gas emissions stemming from diesel and petrol motors.
"Even though electric vehicles are charged from coal-fired power, they produce a quarter of the emissions that diesel and petrol engines do," he said.
"In urban areas, carcinogenic fuel vapours are becoming a real problem and if we don't get the ball rolling on lowering emissions, the situation could worsen in the future."
With much of Australia's crude oil supply [roughly 83 per cent] sourced from overseas, Mr Fry said a shift to electric vehicles could help safeguard the country's oil reserves.
"We could get to the point where we only have a week's worth of oil left in Australia and if conflict breaks out in a country that supplies us with oil, our supply could be less secure," he said.
"We're incredibly dependent on these tankers that transport oil from other countries, hence why it's essential that we push towards alternate solutions."
Although Mr Fry is supportive of Bathurst's move towards sustainable transport, he admits that more research is needed to bolster the appeal of electric vehicles in regional areas.
"An inhibiting factor for electric vehicles in regional areas is their efficiency on long-distance trips," he said.
"Australia has been slower to adopt electric vehicles, but that could work in our favour as it could allow for more research into how to make long-distance electric travel sustainable."